The Girl Child

For the past years the boy child has always been on the front line, and the girl child has been secluded. This makes me wonder whether girls have a place in this earth. The ironic thing is that the boy and the girl are both born by the same mothers, yet there is no sense of equality, even in the family level. From my observations, the reality is that the girl child has been viewed as a non-important object. This is especially true in one of the tribes known as “THE MAA SPEAKERS.’ Girls in this community have been viewed as source of wealth for the family. Girls in this community go through so much in their lives.

I have a friend called Mary. Mary is the second born in her family. Immediately, when she reached the age of three years, she was taken to school. She thought she had escaped the pain of being circumcised that many were forced to go through. Life went on. But as soon as she reached the age of twelve, things started changing. Eventually she was forced to be circumcised. She went through a lot of pain as she bled for a long time.

Immediately after healing, another tragedy occurred. It was on a bright morning when a group of people suddenly trooped into her house. Before long, Mary was called in. Her mother told her that she had found a husband for Mary. Mary imagined the pain she had yet to go through and started crying.

Mary had other siblings who were taken to school while she remained home to prepare everything for them and she wondered why her own mother treated her this way. She had no one to help her out of the situation. The ceremony was carried out and Mary was married off at twelve years. It was obvious that her parents were just after cows, goats and sheep because they seemed happy after the bride price was paid, and did not think about Mary’s future.

Two years in marriage there was no peace and love as expected in marriage. When Mary conceived and gave birth she developed some complications as well as her baby and eventually the baby died. This was a young girl who was not yet mature to face all of this, however she did not have a say. After narrating all of this to me I was inspired to write something that perhaps will change how girls are viewed in society. Girls have a voice that should be heard.

Girls are the society builders and so let all of us embrace them and treat them with dignity and respect. Let us give them a chance to choose the life they want to live for the betterment of their future, and never to say I LIVE THIS LIFE BECAUSE I WAS FORCED.